Note: This is the first blog of a four-week series that details the four programs available from Keep Your Home California.

How bad is California’s economy and unemployment picture? Well, consider this – there are 2.18 million jobless people in the state, the equivalent to everyone in San Diego and San Francisco, combined.

It’s a jaw-dropping figure.

Many of these out-of-work Californians are financially strapped homeowners, wondering how they will make their next mortgage payment. Fortunately, Keep Your Home California’s Unemployment Mortgage Assistance program can help some of these hard-hit homeowners. The state-run program has allocated almost $875 million to help low- to moderate-income homeowners with their mortgage payments while unemployed.

The mortgage assistance program offers $3,000 per month or 100 percent of PITI (principal, interest, tax and insurance) and any escrowed homeowner’s association dues or assessments, whichever is less.

Now, there are some very specific requirements before applying for the program, and we encourage homeowners to read them at www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org/uma.htm. Here are just a few requirements for homeowners that will determine if they are eligible for the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program:

The program is designed for homeowners who are currently eligible to receive unemployment benefits from the state Employment Development Department.

Homeowners must be considered low- to-moderate income, basically earn 120 percent or less of the Housing and Community Development Area Median Income. You can check a previous blog that details income eligibility to learn more, and review the county-by-county list of income levels. Each county has a different income level.

A house in foreclosure is not eligible for the program.

The home cannot be abandoned, vacant or condemned and it must serve as the homeowner’s primary residence.

Of course, requirements detailed in previous blogs still stand, specifically your mortgage servicer must participate in the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance program (check this previous blog to learn more about mortgage servicers).

Here is the complete list http://www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org/participating.htm of mortgage servicers and how they participate in Keep Your Home California. We have almost 50 mortgage servicers participating in Keep Your Home California, and these companies service more than 85 percent of the mortgages held by California homeowners. Now, if your mortgage servicer is not listed, check back often since more are added almost every week.

So, if you are an out-of-work homeowner, check out the details about the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance program at http://www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org/uma.htm and call 888-954-KEEP (5337) as soon as possible. We anticipate helping about 60,500 homeowners with the program, with average funding of $14,455.

Keep Your Home California

Keep Your Home California is a $2 billion federal program run by the state, focused on helping low and moderate income families avoid foreclosure, stay in their homes, and maintain an affordable mortgage payment for long-term homeownership.